USD basketball adds 2 intriguing players

Two weeks after the season ended, USD basketball coach Bill Grier got on a plane to Spain’s Canary Islands, an archipelago off the west coast of Africa with black-sand beaches, spectacular volcanic vistas and an idyllic climate.

He wasn’t on vacation.

The purpose of his trip became apparent Thursday, when USD announced it had signed Jito Kok – a 6-foot-9 Dutch post from a basketball academy in the Canary Islands capital of Las Palmas.

“I’m really fired up about him,” Grier said. “He’s a kid who’s oozing with upside in my opinion. He’s long and very, very athletic – arguably one of the most athletic kids in the conference, I would think.”

The Toreros also signed 6-2 guard Aaron Michael “Mike” Davis, a junior transfer from Texas Tech whom Grier had recruited out of high school. Kok and Davis join 6-5 wing Trey Guidry, a high school senior from Houston who signed his letter of intent in November and has drawn praise from prep scouts.

“Trey and Jito, those two definitely jump us up on athleticism,” Grier said. “Mike gives us someone on the perimeter who can shoot and pass, and can back up Chris (Anderson) at the point. What excites me is it creates great competition in practice.”

The result, quite possibly, is a USD team poised for its first winning season in five years. After finishing 6-24 in 2010-11 and opening 5-10 last season, the Toreros closed by winning five of their last nine – and took BYU to the brink in the second round of the West Coast Conference tournament.

And they return all five starters. The lone departure is guard Darian Norris, who by the end of the season was coming off the bench.

Kok played for the Canarias Basketball Academy run by Rob Orellana, a former assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton under Donny Daniels. His academy has provided two big men to fellow WCC schools, England’s Ashley Hamilton at Loyola Marymount and 6-11 Dutch center Thomas van der Mars at Portland.

Kok is a member of the Netherlands’ under-18 national team, and Eurohopes Basketball Prospects rates him No. 36 on its Top 50 list of players born in 1994.

Davis will be eligible immediately because he practiced but did not play last season at Western Texas College, a community college in Snyder, Texas. He left Texas Tech after two injury-marred seasons, starting three of 50 games and averaging 8.8 minutes.

Grier said Davis had shown interest in coming last year, but USD had no available scholarships. Three ultimately opened up: Chris Gabriel and Jordan Mackie were dismissed from the team in November, and Ben Vozzola left in December.

“We loved this kid when we recruited him out of high school, as someone who can really score and is a good passer,” Grier said. “He’s just a tough, hard-nosed competitor. That’s what I really like. He’s just a battler.”

Grier has one remaining scholarship for 2012-13. His plan, he said, is to save it for a November prep signing or a mid-season transfer.